Since I was young, one of my favorite things to do was read. So naturally, as I got older, I more or less stopped doing it. Part of the problem was that I was waiting for the perfect time and place to read. I wanted a quiet spot with a comfortable chair and enough time to read a chapter or so.

However now, as a father of two young kids juggling multiple teaching and writing experiences, these types of perfect reading moments don’t really exist for me—I'm sure other educators can relate.

Over the years, I’ve had to abandon this idealized reading mindset and adopt a more I-thrive/read-in-chaos mindset. Technology has helped with this, and the combination of using ebooks and audiobooks has allowed me to average about three to four books per month.

I’m certainly no super reader, but as the summer approaches and we all look to get in extra reading, here are some ways in which technology has helped me keep up with my reading.

1. Reading Ebooks

I truly prefer to read a real paper book over an ebook as there’s just something about the way the paper crinkles as you turn the page that can’t be duplicated in a Kindle or other digital reader.

Even so, I read much more when I read ebooks. Unsurprisingly, this is all about convenience. Real books require two hands to hold and proper lighting to see. They also have a habit of getting lost or left at home when you need them most.

Ebooks are always with you. I’ve tried dedicated ebook readers, such as a Kindle, but the best bet for me is just to use a reading app on my phone. This way it's always with me, and when I’m tempted to go online and start scrolling through social media, I remind myself to read for five minutes instead. Often this five minutes turn into 10 or 15 minutes, and little by little, I work my way through more books.

2. Listening to Audio Books

I love going to live author events and listening to them read from their work, but I will admit that during a live reading, my mind often wanders and I can’t follow the plot details. This used to happen to me with audiobooks as well.

To stay engaged, I eventually started adjusting the playback speed. I start at 1.25 speed and then go up from there based on the speed of the narrator. When I’m really dialed into a story, I’ll often listen at 1.7 speed, which approaches the speed at which I actually read.

I also find that audiobooks lend themselves particularly well to nonfiction, first-person narratives, and/or stories with fewer characters. Sprawling multicharacter epics still tend to confuse me a bit when listening. But overall, when we listen to books, we retain about as much information as when we read them, research shows, and that's what I've found.

3. Reading Audio and Ebooks Together

Some worry that when we listen to audiobooks instead of reading, it encourages us to stop reading altogether. This isn’t the case, according to most reading experts. In fact, some have told me that listening to books supports reading books.

I’ve certainly found this to be the case personally, and I've discovered a great strategy to increase my reading is to listen to and read the same book.

Amazon offers Whispersync, a feature that allows you to seamlessly toggle back and forth between your audiobook and Kindle without losing your place. Even if you prefer to use a more independent bookstore-friendly platform such as Libro.FM, I find that with a little effort, it’s not too hard to go back and forth between the two and keep moving forward through the narrative. If I’m listening to an audiobook and want to find my spot in the ebook I’m reading, I just search a particular phrase.

One of the biggest hurdles to me finishing a book is momentum. If I spend too long reading any book, I tend to get tired of it. Listening and reading the same book really fights this and helps me get to 50 pages or so of progress without too much effort.

4. Chunking

As teachers, we are often encouraging our students to make small manageable goals and then start completing those. I believe the same sort of principle is behind what makes social media so addictive. It comes in bite-sized servings. We don’t have to commit to reading any particular text or watching any video, it doesn’t matter if we get interrupted.

I’ve tried to apply this to my reading habits and be less concerned about interruptions. If I have a few minutes to read, I’ll take that opportunity rather than scroll on social media. Audiobooks and ebooks lend themselves well to this technique because chapter and section breaks are less prominent as you read or listen, but the same idea holds true for traditional books as well.

5. Scrolling Past

Another lesson from social media I try to apply to reading is the idea of scrolling past something in which I'm not interested. On social media, the scroll never ends, and if what the algorithm is showing me isn’t interesting, there’s always plenty more to read. The same is, of course, true of regular reading. And those who study literacy say the idea that you must finish every book you start can halt reading progress.

Personally, I’ve started abandoning ship or scrolling past if I find my reading focus waning while reading a book. What I try to do is revisit the book after reading two or three other books, just to see if it was a matter of my being in the wrong mindset. This is occasionally the case, but more often than not, if I don’t finish a book, it’s because it is just not for me. Unless it is something I need to read for research, once I’ve given a book a second try, I move on for good.

A part of me still hates not finishing a book, but I’ve learned to silence that part of me and figuratively scroll past the book I don’t like. This is one of the most effective ways I've found for continuing to read overall.

The screen inferiority effect is the name scientists have given to the phenomenon in which students, and others, seem to comprehend more when reading print vs. digital texts. The effect was noted as early as 2008, and has been seen in recent studies as well.

“It's inconsequential for some types of content and consequential for other types of content,” says Daniel T. Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia

For leisure reading, the screen inferiority effect is minimal. “People love Kindles, they like reading on their phone, they appreciate the convenience, and so what that indicates is they're not noticing any inferiority,” Willingham says. “It's not ruining the experience for them.” 

When you start reading textbooks, however, the difference becomes more pronounced. “When you get to more difficult content, the effect size is larger and people do notice it,” Willingham says. “They keep rereading, they perceive that they don't understand very well.” 

Because of the extra time screen readers take with texts, readers may end up with comparable test scores to print readers but have to spend more time to achieve the same learning, Willingham says.  

Evidence For The Screen Inferiority Effect  

Studies since the 2000s have observed the screen inferiority effect. One recent study looked at whether this effect still occurs when you compare students reading on a phone or tablet to print, as most research into the screen inferiority effect had compared text reading to reading on a computer. This study still found a small benefit for reading printed text over tablets. 

Ladislao Salmerón, this study’s lead author and a professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Valencia, says though small, this impact could add up over time. “In interpreting this, we must consider that children in schools read every day, so this effect could be accumulated over time,” he says.

Despite this research, many question marks about the screen inferiority effect persist, including what exactly causes it. 

One possibility is called the shallowing hypothesis, which assumes that when reading on digital devices people are generally doing so for short periods of time and for short pieces of text. Another theory holds that the tactile nature of reading, feeling each page, and remembering whether it was at the beginning of the book or the end, helps provide more information cues to connect with your memory. Yet another theory has to do with personal preference. 

“One thought is it might be due to most readers having a preference for paper and dislike of reading from screens, making it difficult to engage with ebooks,” says Virginia Clinton-Lisell, a professor in educational psychology at the University of North Dakota. “I wonder if this will diminish with time as children are using screens to read from a young age and may feel more comfortable with the devices.” 

Clinton-Lisell is the lead author of a 2019 meta-analysis, a look at multiple studies, that found evidence for the screen inferiority effect. However, since that study was released she has conducted several of her own experimental studies that have not observed the screen inferiority effect. “I am honestly skeptical of my own meta-analysis's generalizability,” she says. 

Natalia Kucirkova, professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger, Norway, says there are a number of factors that contribute to reading comprehension in young children. For instance, whether they reading to learn or reading for enjoyment has an impact, as does the type of digital text being read. 

“Interactive features in digital books can either enhance or hinder the experience,” she says. “For instance, strategically placed feedback can aid comprehension, while distracting elements can detract from it. In other words, it is not the screen that is inferior, but the design” 

Implications of The Screen Inferiority Effect for Educators 

Salmerón believes the implications of the screen inferiority effect for classroom educators and school readers is fairly simple: “Printed texts should not be abandoned,” Salmerón says. “Tablets may be well-suited for internet-inquiry tasks, but paper should be preferred when promoting comprehension of long texts.”

For Clinton-Lisell, the takeaway is that educators should think about how to use digital texts more effectively. “I think the emphasis going forward should be on how to use interactive tools that are afforded by screens,” she says. “Like was shown in my meta-analysis, interactivity, such as questions with feedback and embedded glossary definitions, have great potential for helping learning.” 

In her classes, she assigns digital readings with social annotations. “This way students are more likely to interact with the material and take advantage of the affordances of screens,” she says. 

Willingham says that textbook companies are working to improve the digital experience of textbooks and understand what might cause the screen inferiority effect. “My hunch is that it's not any one thing,” he says. “For example, one of the things that people figured out fairly early on, is that there's a comprehension advantage if you have people reading on virtual pages and flipping those pages rather than scrolling on one long text as you usually do on a PDF. That accounts for a very small boost in comprehension, but doesn't solve the problem.” 

In the meantime, Willingham says the screen inferiority effect should be a factor in the decision-making process for schools and individual educators, although other factors, of course, need to come into play, such as print text cost, access, and age, as digital texts can be much easier to update. Personal preference for educators and students might also come into play. 

“There are people who like paper just because they like paper and there's a certain nostalgia or romance and it feels different,” he says. “Then there are tech enthusiasts who enjoy adopting new technologies.” 

• Study: Students Who Read Print Learn More Than Those Who Read Tablets
• Ebook vs. Print Book Study: 5 Takeaways

The best ereaders for students and teachers are a superb way to go paper-free while also giving access to a whole world of written media, from books and periodicals to magazines and comics.

While the Amazon Kindle and the Kobo or Barnes & Noble offerings are the main ereaders available, you do have a choice with varying features to serve your school needs specifically. By the time you're done here you should have the perfect ereader for your school.

Some features to think about, both for teachers and students, are backlights, waterproofing, physical buttons, and WiFi or data connectivity. Also the size of the ereader itself may be a factor, as can the brand to denote what content libraries you have access too.

If you need super high resolution and color -- perhaps to read magazines, comics and text books -- then you will be better served with a one of the best tablets. But if simply words and lots of battery life are your needs then read on to find the right ereader to help.

• Best tablets for students
• Best tablets for teachers

Best Ereaders For Students and Teachers

• Want more features? Check the best laptops for teachers
• Be sure you have the best webcam for teachers setup too

1. Kindle Paperwhite: Best Ereader Overall

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2021) is the model of ereader from a lineage that put these E Ink devices into the limelight. Not only did the Kindle start off the paperless reading revolution, but it's been improving constantly with new releases that result in the current model, which is by far the best yet. Despite all the improvements, this manages to remain one of the most affordable ereader options out there, too.

Despite being the thinnest and lightest Paperwhite yet, this manages to offer a crisp 6-inch, 300ppi backlit display with super fast refresh rates for near instant page turns. There's a lot of storage space, at up to 32GB, so you won't need to worry about filling this up. Packing in both WiFi and cellular connections, you can be connected to new reading material anywhere, be it in the class or outside.

Crucially, this model comes with IPX8 waterproofing, making it a rugged device that can withstand living in a school bag on the move and even being read in the rain. Or take this into the bath and you won't have to worry about it getting wet.

Battery life isn't the best, compared to the older model, but that's still superb so you get days, or even a week, of plentiful use before needing a charge.

2. Onyx Boox Note Air: Best big screen ereader

The Onyx Boox Note Air is a huge tablet of a device that remains lightweight and svelte thanks to a gorgeous design. That does mean it isn't cheap but you get a lot for your money.

The centerpiece is that 10.3-inch backlit display that offers 226ppi for a relatively high resolution and clear, crisp text. This also works for images as this device can be used with an included stylus pen to draw, annotate, and edit documents – all ideal for teacher use. With PDF support and a selection of backlight colors, from warm yellow to vibrant blue, this is a great way to read and edit documents on the move or in class.

This ereader has access to the Google Play Store, so a lot of apps are available, but with that monochrome screen you are a little limited. That said, this is far more expensive than many other ereaders out there, competing more against tablets – which helps to justify the price.

3. Kobo Clara HD: Best for library reading

The Kobo Clara HD is the company's answer to the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, only this one doesn't come with waterproofing – but it has a trade off. Instead, it is built to give you access to the U.S. public library book selection wherever Overdrive is used. That makes this an ideal ereader for students and teachers who want access to digital tons of reading materials.

But that's not all -- you also get that 300ppi and 6-inch display, plus this device comes with a color-changing backlight. You can read a textbook in bright blue light, or settle down at bed into a fiction novel with a warm, yellow sepia color.

This is a compact unit that's light, easy to hold one-handed, works quickly with a clear display, and offers extensive battery life that goes for weeks on a single charge. Plus, it'll open all sorts of file formats, unlike a Kindle, meaning access to EPUB, PDF, RTF, and even CMZ and JPEG for comic books and images. Add in the fact this is affordably priced – plus you can rent rather than buy books – and this is a serious contender.

4. Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight 3: Best for physical buttons

The Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight 3 offers a throwback design feature that many ereaders have done away with: physical buttons. So if you're a fan of having a button to press when flicking through pages, then this is the one for you. You still get a super clear 6-inch and 300ppi display, only flanked with buttons. The Kindle Oasis also offers buttons but at a real premium.

The downside here is that you have a smaller library of books available to you when compared to the likes of Amazon's Kindle. What this does have is a color-changing backlight and an easy way to access ePub books, especially if you enjoy side-loading these.

5. Kindle Oasis: Best premium ereader

The Kindle Oasis could be at the top of this list if it wasn't for the price. Yet it does justify that amount as it is superbly designed for the most premium reading experience. That includes an ergonomic design, with a side ridge for easy and comfortable one-handed reading. It also has a larger-than-most 7-inch display and IPX8 waterproofing. 

The side ridge features buttons for easy one-handed page turning and it can be turned upside down making it work for both left- and right-handed reading. The adjustable backlight can work automatically based on time of day, offering bright blue light in the day and warm yellow in the evening.

Expect a battery life of up to six weeks, optional 4G connectivity, and up to 32GB of storage, all making this one of the most powerful ereaders available. The fact it gives you access to the mighty library of books Amazon offers is a bonus. 

6. Kindle Paperwhite Kids: Best for middle graders

The Kindle Paperwhite Kids is designed for students between age 7 and 12 primarily, with lots of material catered for that group. But, of course it can also be used by younger and older children as needed. This device comes with a case, long two-year warranty, and is waterproof -- making it ideal for the level of care a child is expected to give.

You do get a subscription included for all the Kids+ content that Amazon offers, which is plentiful. The downside is that lasts just a year before you'll have to start paying. You can go without, however, there is a lot there and it'll be tough to use this device quite the same without that subscription.

The 6-inch anti-glare screen is high-res at 300ppi and it features LED backlighting, making this a read-anywhere device. All that backed by a battery that can last months and this really justifies that relatively low price.

• Want more features? Check the best laptops for teachers
• Be sure you have the best webcam for teachers setup too

Once upon a time there was a teacher looking for new ways to teach old subjects.

While storytelling is nothing new, it hasn’t always been applied effectively in the modern classroom. Obviously, storytelling is a great way for kids to learn to love reading and writing. But almost any school subject can be considered through a dramatic frame, from history to geography to science. Even math can be taught through narrative (word problems, anyone?). Most importantly, storytelling gives kids the opportunity to be inventive with language, graphics, and design, and to share their creations with others.

The following sites and apps for storytelling range from basic to advanced. Many are designed for educators or include guides for use in education. And while most are paid products, the prices are generally reasonable and nearly every platform offers a free trial or free basic account.

The End. The Beginning.

Best Sites and Apps for Digital Storytelling

PREMIUM

• Story Xperiential
  Story Experiential offers a comprehensive storytelling curriculum based on the creative process of the renowned Pixar studios. Eight modules cover all aspects of the creative process, from the starting point, “What if?” to the final edits. No unusual equipment is required- students use an ordinary smartphone or camera and free editing software. The program is standards-aligned and can be incorporated into any subject area. A moderated community forum supports kids in giving and receiving peer feedback, while the public exhibition celebrates their work at the program’s end. Although this program is a bit more expensive than many others, it provides a professional level of guidance that few can match. A seven-day free trial will help those interested to decide if it’s worth it.
• Plotagon
  Offering professional-level animation at a deep discount to education users, Plotagon is a remarkably powerful tool for storytelling and moviemaking. Download the app or desktop software and start creating. You need only supply the story idea and text, as Plotagon’s libraries of animated characters, backgrounds, sound effects, music, and special effects cover vast territory. In fact, just browsing the libraries will help generate ideas for stories. A must-try, if not a must-have! Android and iOS: Free with in-app purchases. Windows desktop: For education users, only $3/month or $27/year, with 30-day free trial.
• BoomWriter
  Boomwriter’s unique storytelling platform allows kids to write and publish their own collaborative story, while teachers offer advice and assistance. Free to join and use; parents pay $12.95 for the published book.
• Buncee
  Buncee is a slideshow presentation tool that lets teachers and students create and share interactive stories, lessons, and assignments. A drag-and-drop interface, templates, and thousands of graphics make Buncee popular with educators and easy for kids to use. Strong support for accessibility and inclusion.
• Nawmal
  Students create imaginative videos using a wide range of animated characters who speak via AI. A great way to build communication, presentation, and conversation skills all at once. Free trial for educators. Windows 10 download (or Mac-compatible with Parallels Desktop or Bootcamp engaged).
• Pixton for Schools
  An award-winning platform that’s employed by districts from Santa Ana to New York City, Pixton offers more than 4,000 backgrounds, 3,000 props, and 1,000 subject-specific templates for creating digital comics. Plus, they’ve added features based on feedback from educators to make teaching with Pixton simple, fun, and safe. Highlights include easy logins, integration with Google/Microsoft, and unlimited classrooms.
• Storybird
  A story creation and social media site that allows students to illustrate their original text with professional graphics rendered in a variety of styles. Writing prompts, lessons, videos, and quizzes provide the support that kids need to write well.
• Storyboard That
  Storyboard That’s specialized edition for education offers more than 3,000 lesson plans and activities, while integrating with applications such as Clever, Classlink, Google Classroom, and others. It’s also FERPA, CCPA, COPPA, and GDPR compliant. Best of all, you can create your first storyboard without a download, credit card, or login! 14-day free trial for educators.

FREEMIUM

• Powtoon
  Powtoon is a presentation platform that allows users to create slide-based video animations with special effects, music, and voiceover narration. Choose from among a large collection of editable templates or upload your own slide presentation or video. With an education account, teachers can create an online Powtoon classroom and invite students to join so that resources and assignments can be easily shared. This Powtoon Lesson Plan is a practical example of how teachers can incorporate this engaging storytelling tool into the curriculum.
• Book Creator
  A powerful ebook creation tool, Book Creator allows users to embed all kinds of content, from rich multimedia to Google Maps, YouTube videos, PDFs, and more. Try a real-time class collaboration—and be sure to check out AutoDraw, an AI-powered feature that aids artistically challenged users in fashioning drawings to be proud of.
• Cloud Stop Motion
  Very cool software through which users create stop-motion video projects from any browser or device. Use your device camera and microphone, or upload images and sound files, then add text and animation effects. Try out the simple interface without an account or credit card. COPPA compliant. Free organization/school accounts with unlimited students and classes, and 2 GB storage. Buy additional storage for $27-$99 annually.
• StoryJumper
  Simple online software that allows kids to write stories, generate customized characters, and narrate their own book. Excellent for younger students. The step-by-step teacher’s guide makes it easy to integrate this platform into your curriculum. Free to create and share online – pay only to publish or download books. Try it first – no account or credit card required!

FREE

• Storyline Online
  An award-winning children’s literacy program, Storyline Online couples well-known actors with top illustrated children’s books. Each storytelling video features the actor’s dramatic narration while skillfully animated illustrations unfold to tell the tale. The extensive teacher’s guide that accompanies each book/ video includes a synopsis, standards, suggested grade levels, themes, activities and printable worksheets. Storyline Online is endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers and the American Library Association.
• Pic-Lits
  A simple yet powerful tool that supports literacy through the pairing of images and text. Kids can choose from among hundreds of available images in diverse topics ranging from animals to politics, then drag and drop words from the word bank to create their “Pic-Lit.” Or choose the “Freestyle” option and start typing. Dozens of lesson plans covering ELA topics and poetry offer guidance to educators in implementing Pic-Lits in the classroom.
• Storytelling Activities with Google Tools
  K12 edtech authority Eric Curts displays his considerable expertise with Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets in this video demonstration of using Google tools to write and illustrate stories and poetry. An engaging speaker, Curts dives into “Choose your Own Adventure,” “Emoji Rebus,” “Stop Motion Animation,” and other super creative ways to excite kids about writing.
• Knight Lab Storytelling Projects
  From Northwestern University’s Knight Lab, six online tools help users tell their stories in unusual ways. Juxtapose lets you quickly make a comparison between two scenes or images. Scene turns your image into 3D virtual reality. Soundcite narrates your text seamlessly. Storyline allows users to build an annotated, interactive line chart, while StoryMap is a slide-based tool for telling stories with maps. And with Timeline, students can create rich interactive timelines about any topic. All tools are free, easy to use, and include examples. The easily accessible FAQs and examples for each tool provide excellent support while the shareable links and embed codes let users show off their work. Some projects may require a free Dropbox or Google account.
• Make Beliefs Comix
  Author and journalist Bill Zimmerman has built a marvelous free site where kids of any age can learn to express their ideas through digital comics. Mouse over the main navigation and you’ll be amazed by the number of topics to explore, from 30 Ways to Use MakeBeliefsComix in the Classroom to social-emotional learning to text- and image-based comic prompts. Video and text tutorials guide users. No special talent required!
• Imagine Forest
  Exceptional free site that offers features more common to paid sites, including story idea generator and prompts; built-in dictionary, thesaurus, and rhyming dictionary; writing tips and challenges; and the ability to produce assignments, monitor progress, and award badges. Images and customizable characters are supported as well. Awesome for teachers on a budget.

• LightSail: How to Use It to Teach Literacy
• How It’s Done: Reading Students through Digital Storytelling
• Actively Learn: How to Use It to Teach Reading

People are listening to more audiobooks than ever before. 

In 2021 an estimated 131 million people listened to an audiobook, and audiobook revenue is up more than 17 percent in the last two years. But despite their growing popularity audiobooks still often carry a stigma, particularly in education. 

“There's this sense that it's cheating,” says Beth Rogowsky, Ed.D, associate professor at Bloomsburg University and author of Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn. 

Rogowsky, a former K-12 English teacher, used to believe this as well. In fact, a few years ago when she got hooked on listening to audiobooks she was worried.

“I thought, ‘Wow, I'm really enjoying this. This is not good. I need to read this for it to count,’” she says. 

Then Rogowsky decided to explore the science behind that assumption. For a 2016 study, she split 91 college-educated adults into three groups. One group listened to sections of the nonfiction history book Unbroken, another group read the same section on ebook readers, while the final group both read and listened at the same time. Afterward, participants were quizzed on how much material they had retained. 

“What we found is it didn't matter whether these adults read the book from an e-tablet, listened to an audio version of the book, or did both simultaneously, comprehension was equal,” she says. 

Previous research also found adults got nearly identical scores on a test if they listen to passages instead of reading them. 

While research into audiobooks' impact on children is more limited, Melissa Jacobs, director of The New York City Department of Education School Library System, has seen students respond well to them. 

“I think that they comprehend at a much higher level listening than they do when they're reading text,” she says. “I find that a lot of kids have a very difficult time decoding text. And they lose out on the comprehension of a story, of a book, of a title because they're spending so much time focusing on decoding it.” 

When the pandemic started, Jacobs began purchasing more ebooks and audiobooks and her library system now has more than 19,000 audiobooks available for students on OverDrive’s Sora K12 app. Over the summer, data from the app shows that students were spending about 45 minutes on average engaged with audiobooks, about twice the time they spent on average with an ebook. 

But despite their potential, audiobooks are not perfect and research into their efficacy is ongoing. 

Lingering Questions About Audiobook Efficacy  

Rogowsky’s study compared listening to audiobooks to reading ebooks and there is some evidence that people retain more when reading a traditional print book instead of an ebook. It may also be harder to learn by listening the more complex a topic is. One study compared how well students learned about a scientific topic from a printed article versus a short podcast. Those in the reading group scored significantly higher than those in the listening group. 

Age may also play a role. Participants in Rogowsky’s study were adults between 25 and 40 who had a bachelor’s degree and were proficient readers. Rogowsky says that with younger students, who are still developing their reading skills, there is the potential to overuse audiobooks. “That becomes an issue when instead of teaching our students how to read, we're letting them just listen to audiobooks for longer periods of time, especially in our English classes,” she says. But she adds audiobooks can still be useful with younger grades as it can help them learn to enjoy reading. 

Jacobs says that “read along books,” which provide both text to read and audio, can be a useful tool with students still learning how to read. “For our younger kids, it provides a richer experience having that read along, “ she says. “Also for parents that don't speak or read in English, an audiobook or a read along helps them read with their child.” 

Overcoming The Audiobook Stigma  

Jacobs would like to see more educators embrace audiobooks and more school library systems invest in them. 

“I feel like it needs to be a much more acceptable format and for educators to understand that it's not a cop-out,” she says. “ Not everybody is reading the text. And if you don't want kids to fall behind, and they need to read it, and you're on a timeline, and you have a curriculum map that you're following, and you have deadlines, give them the opportunity to get an accessible format that works for them. There's not a one-size-fits-all. Audio provides a different size that kids need.” 

Jacobs had tried in the past to listen to audiobooks but had trouble concentrating on them. However, when she started adding more audiobooks to her library system after the pandemic started, she gave the format another try, but this time she tweaked the playback settings.

“I increase the speed of the narration of the reader, and it's changed my level of focus, and my ability to listen and actually enjoy an audiobook,” she says. 

Rogowsky says that to overcome the stigma associated with audiobooks more people need to go public with their listening habits, just like Jacobs. 

“The way we're gonna get past that is by more people sharing that, 'Yes, it's not a dirty little secret, I listened to the book rather than read it,'” she says. “Be proud of that, because you're making great use of this downtime. And the way you're going to remember more of what you read or listen to is by talking about it with other people.” 

• Student Ebook Reading Surges During the Pandemic
• Ebook vs. Print Book Study: 5 Takeaways

This Book Creator tips and tricks guide is here to help you utilize ebook creation in your class in an effective and creative manner. 

At its core, Book Creator is a free tool that allows educators and their students to create multimedia ebooks based on class assignments and topics. The app’s self-publishing ebook format empowers students by allowing them to take authorship of the material they learn in class. 

But given Book Creator’s robust functionality, there are more ways to utilize ebook creation in the classroom than educators might initially realize. 

1. Use Book Creator to Create an “About Me” Book  

A great way to get your students used to using Book Creator and to have them learn more about one another is to have them create an “about me” page using the app. This can include a short bio and photo, for starters. Students can also add audio and video components to their page letting more of their personality shine. Ultimately, the various student’s pages can be combined into one “ebook” about the class.  

2. Use Book Creator for Student Stories, Poems, and Written Projects of all Kinds 

This is maybe the most straightforward use of the app, but it’s an important one. Students can use Book Creator to write, illustrate, and add video audio recordings to their written work. A response to a reading can be part written and part visual. Or students can write a poem and then include an audio clip of themselves or a classmate reading the poem. By the end of the semester they can create a book of all their written work, complete with a table of contents, cover, and title. 

3. Use Book Creator to Teach Math and Science 

Book Creator’s uses extend beyond English and humanities classes, The app can provide a great way for students to organize thoughts and show their work in math and science. Science students can write or record their predictions before testing a hypothesis, then compare and contrast results. They can also take notes on the experiment and track it with visuals. For math, they can use it to create math riddles. 

4. Use Book Creator To Produce Musical Ebooks  

Because of Book Creator’s recording abilities, there are many ways to utilize it in music class. An educator can write out music and have audio recordings embedded for students to play along with. More advanced music students can use it along with recording apps such as GarageBand. 

5. Use Book Creator to Make Comic Books 

Comic books are a popular template on Book Creator and can be used to tell stories and/or share work in a variety of topics. From graphic novels to step-by-step guides to various stories, students can have fun creating work in this visual medium.  

6. Use Book Creator to Support SEL Lesson Plans  

The tool is well suited to supporting SEL objectives. Students can create books, comics, etc., to be collaborative and learn team building. Or they can interview members of their communities and share these interviews in Book Creator. They can also use the app to create and track thoughtfulness and other SEL goals. 

7. Use Book Creator’s “Read to Me” Function  

The “Read to Me” function on Book Creator is one of the app’s most versatile capabilities. It allows users to have the ebook created on the app read to them in various languages, while highlighting the word being spoken. This can help early readers learn to read, or provide an opportunity to practice proficiency in English or a foriegn language.  

8. Use Book Creator to Support Accessibility  

Brook Creator has many tools that can help support different learners. The Read to Me function can help those who have difficulty decoding language. The ability to embed video within the ebook can provide sign language translations. In addition, having each student record a video of them signing a portion of the book is a fun way to teach students sign language. Using the app educators can control aspects such as font size and colors to meet the individual needs of learners. 

• Best Tools for Teachers
• What is Book Creator and How Can Educators Use It?

K-12 students are reading more ebooks than ever before.

Between March 2020 and February 2021, ebook usage at schools increased dramatically, according to a recent white paper from OverDrive Education, which works with more than 48,700 schools to distribute ebooks and other digital media through its Sora K-12 reading app.

Gains include:

• A 139 percent increase in digital books borrowed by or assigned to students from their school’s digital collection
• A 228 percent increase in digital books opened
• A 25 percent increase in average hours students spent reading
• A 21 percent increase in average hours spent reading per book.

“It’s really quite stunning,” says Angela Arnold, general manager of OverDrive Education, who believes the shift toward ebook reading will continue even as more schools and libraries resume pre-pandemic operations. “We have seen a real paradigm shift in perceptions about digital books. Prior to the pandemic digital books were nice to have and seen as accessories, or digital resources with very specific utility. Where we are today in 2021, I think digital books are more perceived as a necessity.”

Melissa Jacobs, director of the New York City Department of Education School Library System, has noticed a similar uptick in ebook reading in New York City since March 2020.

“The use of ebooks and digital content has quadrupled, if not more, across the board, because students couldn't get into physical buildings to use materials,” Jacobs says.

It took some time to get all students equitable access to digital devices but once that happened students were off and reading, she adds.

For much of 2020, many school and community libraries were closed or converted into temporary classrooms to accommodate social distancing, so checking out physical books was often difficult and sometimes impossible. This helped convert more readers and educators to the benefits of ebooks, and now that they are familiar with ebooks, they seem likely to continue reading those along with physical books.

Ebooks Going Forward

The pre-pandemic thinking around ebooks may no longer apply, says Michael Dodes, Queens library coordinator for the New York City Department of Education School Library System. “We know that pre-pandemic, most kids preferred a physical book to an ebook. I would be very interested, now that they have become such a part of classrooms, whether that's changing.”

More research is needed to answer that question but many once-reluctant educators are now embracing ebooks. “A lot of our adults have not picked up an ebook or an audiobook until now,” Dodes says. “Working your way through an ebook is just a different qualitative experience than a physical one. When you've grown up with physical books, making that shift is difficult. So having the audio books and also the professional, searchable books, where it's using an ebook for a purpose, is a good step to getting adults to make the adaptation to using ebooks.”

Jacobs does not believe students will return to pre-COVID reading habits any time soon. “There's going to be a dramatic change in the way we're going to be interacting with any type of reading material,” she says. “I think sustainability wise, e-content is here to stay, and will and has become a medium that should be offered to students.”

Ebooks, Equity, and Accessibility

Ebooks can be a more affordable option for classrooms that need multiple copies of the same book. Select ebooks can be rented, with education discounts for as little as 99 cents per student for 90 days. “That blows out of the water the economics of certain print titles,” Arnold says. “If you're talking about thousands of students who need access to books, the economics change such that digital increases access.”

Ebooks can also be paired with audiobooks. Settings such as background color and text size can be adjusted, which helps make them accessible to all readers.

“If you have a book in print, that's great, it might be accessible to some students; if you have a book in print that is in large print, you're making it accessible to a different audience,” Jacobs says. “If you have that book available in print in large print, and now in an ebook format, you now have additional accessibility tools available at the fingertips of the students.”

Having various book formats and other options available will only continue to drive literacy.

“I see e-content, audiobooks, ebooks, print, large print -- all these forms and formats -- coming together and helping enrich and provide access to our kids,” Jacobs says. “And I think all formats should be provided. Librarians and teachers shouldn't be put in a position of saying, ‘Okay, I can only choose this format.’ Because handing a kid a book in only one format is not differentiating.”

The OverDrive Ebook Report is here (registration required)

• Ebook vs. Print Book Study: 5 Takeaways
• 4 Tips for Teaching Digital Literacy

A recent meta-analysis found that children ages 1 to 8 were less likely to understand picture books if they read the ebook version instead of the print version, but only when the ebook didn’t have effective enhancements. 

For the analysis, researchers examined more than 39 studies involving more than 1,800 children. Though generally print picture books outperformed their digital counterparts in terms of reader comprehension, if the ebooks contained enhancements that reinforced story content not only did the print advantage go away but students learned more. 

Natalia Kucirkova, one of the study’s authors and a professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger, Norway and Open University, United Kingdom, discusses the implications of the study for educators. 

1. Students Tend to Learn More From a Print Book Than an Ebook 

Several previous meta-analyses looking at how reading comprehension differs between print and ebooks have found small advantages in comprehension for print. Researchers call this the “print advantage” or “screen inferiority effect.” 

On one hand, Kucirkova’s research builds on this body of evidence. “We found a negative impact of digital books on children’s, 1- to 8-year-olds' learning when comparing digital and print books, mirroring the results of meta-analyses with adult readers,” she says. 

But research also demonstrated that when it comes to childhood reading not all digital books are equal. “Our results are significantly moderated by the design of the tested digital books and may reflect the rather low quality of enhancements in the digital books available for young children,” she says. 

2. An Ebook Can Outperform Print Version with the Right Enhancements  

In the analysis, Kucirkova and her co-authors categorized digital book enhancements as either story-related or not story-related. “Those that are story-related improve children’s story comprehension and learning of vocabulary because they direct the child’s attention to the story and its learning elements,” she says. 

Story-related enhancements can take various forms, for example, a prompt question for the child that makes them reflect on the story content, or a word that is highlighted as it is being spoken aloud. “The enhancements that are not helpful for story comprehension are hotspots and mini-games that distract and overwhelm children,” says Kurcirkova. 

3. Ebooks Appeal to Certain Students  

“Ebooks are popular among children with little history of reading at home, and children who are reluctant readers,” Kucirkova says. “Also, given the customizability of ebooks, children with special educational needs or those who want to advance reading at their own pace prefer ebooks, or at least they like ebooks as much as print books.”

If possible, educators should provide a healthy mix of print and ebooks to meet the needs of all readers. 

“Depending on the technology availability in the classroom or home, a digital book can be read on multiple devices simultaneously, thus engaging families or groups of children,” she says. “Also, all children can have their own copy of the digital book open on their personal device, if they have one.” 

4. Educators Should Assess an Ebook Before Assigning One 

The use of digital books needs to be planned just like the use of print books. “Consider the entire cycle of the reading activity,” says Kucirkova. “What happens before the reading session starts, how does the digital book fit with the lesson objectives and individual children’s needs/skills/preferences. Does the content of the digital book promote dialogue among children?” 

Ebooks should be vetted just like print books so educators can become familiar with the story and any features, and also check that there are no embedded ads or add-on purchases as there are with apps. 

Educators can also explore guiding documents on Children’s Digital Books, an international collective of researchers and children’s books authors chaired by Kucirkova that provides resources to educators about best practices around ebook use. 

5. Further Research Is Needed to Understand Ebooks 

Kucirkova would like various types of ebook enhancements to be studied further. “Some digital books have some very exciting features, for example when children can move characters around the screen to perform actions described in the story,” she says. “Children may remember a story better if they can physically manipulate story elements, and such books may also stimulate children’s empathy.” 

In addition, she’d like to further study the role of ebooks in various subage groups within the 1 to 8 age range, in particular how print books and ebooks stack up in terms of reader motivation. “Only a few authors included motivation as an outcome measure in the studies we meta-analysed, so we couldn’t formally evaluate it, which is a pity as reading motivation is so important in young learners,” she says. 

• Research: Video Learning May be More Effective Than In-person Lectures
• High-Dosage Tutoring: Can Technology Help Curb Learning Loss?
• 5 Things to Know About Virtual Academies

With brick-and-mortar schools closing down across the nation and the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students are left without many of the most important learning materials they had access to previously. Books in print form are one such loss.

As a result, ebooks and audiobooks have become key for kids learning at home. More than 10,000 schools have adopted OverDrive Education’s Sora K-12 student reading app since the national emergency was declared on March 13, bringing the total to over 26,000 worldwide. 

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to building capacity in school libraries while students are learning from home,” said Eleanor Friedman, Supervisor of School Library System at Southern Westchester BOCES in New York. “Our partnership with OverDrive Education has allowed our school libraries to continue providing service and access to materials for our students, which is our utmost priority.” 

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, many publishers have provided popular and educational titles for a no-cost ebooks and audiobooks collection. This collection of 260+ titles includes favorites like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and curricular essentials like Call of the Wild to provide students and educators of all grade levels with the digital content they need to learn remotely.

“Since transitioning to distance learning, Sora enabled our teachers to assign digital novels they had previously taught in print, but no longer had access to,” said Shawn J. Maas, Media Specialist at Cypress Bay High School in Florida.   

Teachers can use Sora to assign titles to students and monitor their reading progress, while students can earn achievement badges for reaching reading milestones. The app also expands access to reading beyond curricular assignments, as students can use Sora to borrow leisure reading materials from both their school and local public library. 

Challenges with distance learning have also raised concerns about an early summer slide, as news reports reveal variable results from online instruction. To help slow the slide and ensure that students have access to digital books while school is closed, OverDrive Education has extended its summer reading program, Sora Sweet Reads. For the next two months, students can read popular juvenile and young adult ebooks like Black Panther (available through June 15), Ms. Marvel (available June 15-July 31) and Big Nate From the Top. Audiobook titles include Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and Akata Witch. 

For additional free resources, students and educators can register for the SYNC Audiobooks for Teens program, sponsored by AudioFile Magazine and powered by Sora. Targeted at teens aged 13 and older, SYNC provides access to two free audiobooks per week in Sora over 13 weeks.

With school closures and the move to remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, families and educators are looking for supplemental educational opportunities to bolster learning. A new study by NWEA projects that students who lack steady instruction during the school shutdowns might retain only 70% of their annual reading gains as compared to a normal year. This compounds the annual issue of reading skill loss known as the summer slide. One resource that educators can consider sharing with families is Scholastic's free Summer Read-A-Palooza program.   

Starting Monday, May 4, kids can join the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza in the newly created summer zone on Scholastic Home Base, where they can explore free resources, read select ebooks, engage with fellow readers and favorite authors, and keep Reading Streaks™, which also help unlock a donation of 100,000 print books from Scholastic, distributed by United Way Worldwide.

Activities include:

• Reading free digital books. Exclusive to the summer zone, kids will have access to select full ebooks in their entirety.
• Unlocking book donations for home libraries: For every two consecutive days a child checks into the zone they will create a Reading Streak which will unlock a new free print book for a child with limited or no access to books. Reading Streaks are earned when kids check in to the Read-a-Palooza zone to confirm they have read that day. With the goal of unlocking all 100,000 books by July, United Way Worldwide, the world’s largest privately funded nonprofit, will distribute the books across the country to locations where access to more high-quality books is needed most. 
• Sharing reading progress. Kids will be able to create and print individualized reading reports summarizing their reading progress. 
• Earning personal reading milestones. Kids will be able to earn awards ranging from bronze, silver, gold and diamond levels for their reading streak progress while collecting accessories to dress up their avatar.
• Joining a community of readers. The summer zone offers kids a safe social platform to interact with friends and make new companions along the way.

To learn more about Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza and access free summer reading resources, visit: http://www.scholastic.com/summer.

With the school- and public libraries locked shut due to fears of spreading the corona virus, what do your students do to finish their book reports, do research for social studies papers and just keep reading? The answer: go to one of the Web’s virtual libraries. They’re stocked full of ebooks, ready to read. 

The Web has dozens of online libraries with millions of books available, but Hoopla, Boox and Project Gutenberg stand out because of the range of materials they have. The best part is that it’s all free, but your local library or school may need to be a member to participate. 

Hoopla

If your local library or school are members of the Hoopla community, you get access to a cornucopia of teaching materials, including movies, audiobooks, music and a great range of eBooks. With more than 500,000 titles, there’s everything from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” to “Call of the Wild.” In other words, Hoopla can be a must-use resource for homebound teachers and students. 

Start by loading the Hoopla app for iOS (iPhones or iPads) or Android phones or tablets. Then, you’ll need to create an account and pick your participating local library or school. This opens a wide world of reading, viewing and listening. My favorite is to go through the service’s list of Genres, pick a category and browse. The Hoopla online library is searchable as well. 

The service uses its own eBook reader and there are no annoying ads. You are limited in the number of items that can be checked out per month and they are usually automatically returned after three weeks.

Libby

Short for library, Libby uses the OverDrive collection of millions of books and materials. It’s one of the easiest eBook libraries to use and can get kids reading even when the physical library remains closed. 

The collection covers all genres and has both a general search and a group of categories to peruse. The site works with iPhones, iPads, Androids and Windows computers but all ebooks can be read with he Kindle app. With titles from “Handmaid’s Tale” to “Midnight in Chernobyl,” Libby also has graphic novels and the “Captain Awesome” series. 

After loading the Libby app and finding your local library in its interface, you’ll need to register with a library card number. You’re allowed up to 10 books at a time and they generally expire in two weeks. Be careful, if you want a popular book, you might have to wait for access. It has a lot to offer the browser, paper researcher or book-report reader.

Project Gutenberg

If you’re looking for primary source material or novels in the public domain, the first stop should be Project Gutenberg. With over 60,000 volumes available, it has an incredible collection of digitized historical books that you get to keep. 

While your school or local library needs to belong to a consortium to use Libby or Hoopla, Gutenberg is open to all and there are no due dates. What you download, you keep. With books available in five languages, kids can search for specific titles, authors and content or go through specific subject areas, like science, technology or history. The ebooks are often direct scans, so they include illustrations, photos and maps. 

From “Eminent Victorians” to “Pride and Prejudice,” Gutenberg is heavy on the classics, including Arthur Mouritz’s fascinating 1921 look at the 1918 flu pandemic – required reading for a 10th grade biology class these days. The interface is easy to master and the books are generally available in several formats, including Web-friendly HTML, ePub, Kindle and plain text. 

In addition to a mobile site, entries have a QR code for snapping that brings you right to the ebook. It is ad-free zone but the people at Gutenberg ask for a donation, no matter how small.

Glose SAS today announced the launch of Glose Education, an adaptive reading and learning platform for students and teachers. 

Glose Education, which is making its debut in the U.S. K-12 education market at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC), was built with input from students and educators in middle schools, high schools, and universities. 

Glose Education is a collaborative and personalized digital reading platform for use in classrooms, schools, libraries, and at home. Offering access to more than one million e-books, Glose Education fosters a social, fun, and engaging reading experience. Drawing on the familiarity and benefits of safe social networking, the platform allows students to read and comprehend both on their own and with their peers. They can read, discover, annotate, and share text with other students.

Educators can create virtual book clubs and leveled reading groups, provide an adaptive reading experience with writing prompts and discussion starters, and see how each student is interacting with the text. With access to real-time data, school leaders can make informed decisions while creating a curated digital library that their students can access anytime, anywhere. 

Glose Education is available on iOS, Android, and the web, while also allowing for offline usage in order to ensure equitable access for all. Students and teachers can get started with access to thousands of free e-books, with more than one million titles available on the enterprise edition for schools and districts. 

FETC attendees can connect with Glose at booth #1435j in the Start-Up Pavilion.

 After brainstorming ways to peer coach, two virtual charter school teachers use their affinity for distance learning tech and podcasting to reach fellow educators around the country.  

Who: Michael Hernandez, Film/Broadcast Journalism/Photography Teacher (Grades 9-12)

Where: Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach, CA

What: Getting a Read on Students through Digital Storytelling

I first started dabbling with ebooks in my cinema class a few years ago the kids were like, "Why are we making books when this is a film class?" I would explain, this is film production, what we're really here to do is tell stories and find unique ways to do so. I had them create experimental videos as part of the unit and put them together to create their own book. They had to think of a collection of these videos and how they would pull together to make a story that was cohesive and more interactive, offering a little bit different way for the audience to connect with the story. 

One student had taken a creative writing class so he had been writing poetry. He used his poetry as a voiceover in his experimental video. So within the book, he had text and some of the text had links to the video he created. It made it really dynamic for his readers and got the kids to really think differently about how they tell stories. I saw it not only as enhancing the final product but a challenge to how they think about my curriculum. 

Positive Results

This sort of storytelling made them brainstorm unique ways they can convey their knowledge and information. It's something I think is missing in some classrooms -- giving kids opportunities to show what they know in ways that might suit them best. Not everyone is good at tests, not everyone is good at writing essays. While those are important things to know, it’s nice that we offer opportunities for students to create authentic projects they can share with the world. When I see what they create, the way they express their thoughts, it tells the story of the students themselves. I am reading the student and their experience in a way I don’t often get to while sitting in the classroom.

The Biggest Challenge

A lot of school districts use Chrome books, but that restricts to students to…basically typing. It kind of defeats the purpose of tech in the classroom. You have to pay extra to do anything. Pay extra for video editing, extra for a video camera. People making buying decisions don't think about those the wealth of free tech they are missing out on when they opt for Chrome. With all of the myths that are out there about the evils of screen time, perhaps we miss the tech benefits in being openminded about embracing their phones and using them for good. It behooves all of us as educators to embrace these tools that are already in their hands, so we can teach kids how to use them properly and productively.  

Finding Funding

I don't get funding directly from the school, all of our tech works from parent donations. But most high school kids have smart phones and there is a lot of free software. Teachers shouldn’t be dissuaded based on budget, most of our students have iPhones -- you can use iMovie and it's free. You can use Adobe Spark or Pages, it's free.

Pro Tips

Consider the value in not only the content and knowledge exhibition, but in how that proof of learning is shared. One of the big things that I get to teach are real world projects. My kids make projects that impact them and their peers. Projects that make them think and feel differently. They don't make dumpster projects that go in the trash once they get the grade.

Tech Tools

• iMac 
• Macs
• iPhones
• Apples Suite
• Finalcut Pro
• Pages
• Adobe Rush
• Adobe Spark Post
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Book Creator- Chrome

Connect with Me

The newscast my students produce is seen by audience members around the world. You can see their work by following them on Instagram @mustangmorningnews 

OverDrive Education’s K-12 student reading app Sora is now available in over 23,000 schools worldwide – a 28% increase over 2018, and schools using Sora saw student reading time nearly double throughout the 2018-19 school year. Sora was named one of TIME's 100 Best Inventions of 2019. With Sora, students have 24/7 access to ebooks and audiobooks from not just their school’s digital collection but also their local public library. 

Sessions at this week’s Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami (Booth #2213) will demonstrate how Sora and digital books increase student reading by providing the flexibility to meet the ever-changing needs of the 21st-century classroom (complete schedule here). OverDrive Education, the leading ebook and audiobook service for schools, will also share best practices and highlights, such as the year-end lists below. 

Based on data from 23,000 schools worldwide, the following lists represent the most popular titles during the 2018-19 school year. 

The top five ebooks for K-12 students in 2019:
1. Wonder by R. J. Palacio
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
3. Big Nate Makes a Splash by Lincoln Peirce
4. Pray for a Fire Drill by Lincoln Peirce
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 

The top five audiobooks for K-12 students in 2019:
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'engle
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

4. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
5. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 

Comparing the beginning of the 2018-19 school year to the end, educators found that students using Sora nearly doubled the amount of time they spent reading per month. Contributing to this increase is the option for students to add access to their local public library’s digital collection, expanding their selection of age- and grade-appropriate popular ebooks and audiobooks. Students who added public library access in Sora increased the number of books read by nearly 50%. 

Sora, which is now compatible with Google Classroom, can also show educators a variety of insights, such as an aggregate view by school of the number of books students have opened daily, plus the average reading time per session. 

Visit FETC Booth #2213 from January 15-17 to learn more. 

For more information about OverDrive’s service for schools, visit company.overdrive.com/education/k-12-schools/ and FETC Booth #2213.

Sharing Lessons, a SMART Solution

One district in Georgia is using SMART Learning Suite to enhance their education goals and share lessons amongst students, teachers and parents. A bonus of the tech is that it can incorporate content in PDF or PowerPoint form, so teachers do not need to redo their projects to match a new formatting system. Lessons are shared using Microsoft Sharepoint and SMART Exchange, putting a copy of the lesson in the hands of every student.

Who: Bobby Brian Lewis, Instructional Technology Coach

Where: Bibb County School District, GA

What: Sharing Lessons using SMART Learning Suite

In an attempt to become a SMART Notebook District, we are in the process of training over 3,000 teachers in the tech. We are training teachers through three sessions per school, then requiring them to create artifacts to demonstrate what they have learned in the training program. They then upload their artifact to SMART Exchange (a place to share and locate resources for SMART) to help educators in our district and beyond. To include the whole school community, we held a Showcase Day for students, principals, and teachers to share their progress and artifacts with each other online, using SMART Learning Suite. 

Positive Results

This helped our students by provided a digital copy that could be viewed at home 24/7. We now can upload any pdf, power point, or SMART Notebook file to SMART Learning Suite Online and then share a digital copy to students, parents, and other teachers. This puts any paper document in the hands of all stakeholders with a digital copy that can be used 24/7. SMART Learning Suite is a great way to provide personalized learning to ALL students.

The Biggest Challenge

Our biggest challenge is having to time to train teachers with their busy schedules, but in the long run we are able to show them that SMART learning Suite can save them time. Our Instructional Technology department was able to share SMART Learning suite this past June with Principals, District coaches and assistant principals at our Leadership conference. We were able to show and share how Smart learning suite could be used. Buy-in was almost immediate because students, parents ,and teachers have a digital resource that can be viewed by all. 

Finding Funding

Right now the SMART Learning Suite is free.  We purchased a license for various software used.

Pro Tip

The best tip is to always bring the students in on the discussion for implementing anything. With this in mind, we trained a group of students on the tech so they can be on-the-ground support in the classroom for educators and other students. 

Tech Used in the Classroom

• SMART notebook
• SMART learning suite
• Microsoft Sharepoint
• SMART Exchange
• Clear Touch Interactive Display
• iPad

Epic! - Unlimited Books for Kids

Free, expansive digital library unlocks treasure trove of books

Pros: Seemingly boundless library includes popular, well-loved authors and series.
Cons: Assessment tools are limited, and it'd be great to have multiple book styles for each book (audiobook, read-to-me, and typical solo reading).
Bottom Line: This large collection of books and videos on a wide variety of topics is an easy -- and free -- enhancement to any classroom library.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Bookshare

Unique digital library gives access to those with print disabilities

Pros: Once registered, students with disabilities have access to a huge library they can read for themselves.
Cons: The registration process must be followed with care.
Bottom Line: This fantastic digital library service provides a powerful sense of independence for students with print-related disabilities.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

OverDrive Education, ebook and audiobook service for schools, released data detailing an increase in reading by K-12 students. Ebook and audiobook reading increased over 240% when students connected their Sora classroom reading app to their local public library versus students solely accessing their school collection. More information can be found here. 

The data also show that student time spent reading nearly doubled since Sora was introduced to K-12 schools in September 2018. Schools and libraries experiencing this surge include Berkeley Public Schools (CA) with students accessing Berkeley Public Library, Liberty School District 53 (MO) with students accessing Mid-Continent Public Library, and Spring Branch ISD (TX) with students accessing Harris County Public Library. 

Sora, the new student reading app released by OverDrive Education in September 2018, provides students access to ebooks and audiobooks from their school’s digital collection for classroom assignments and summer reading programs. The app prompts students to add access to their local library which usually offers a larger selection of age- and grade-appropriate popular ebooks and audiobooks. 

On June 22, OverDrive Education received the 2019 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Crystal Apple, awarded to an individual or group who has made a significant impact on school libraries and learners.

How Sora inspires students to read more and the ease of connecting to public libraries will be on display at the OverDrive Education Booth #2116 at the ISTE19 conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, June 24-26, 2019. 

For more information about Sora, visit http://meet.soraapp.com.

Biblionasium 

Site for reviewing and sharing books makes reading a social adventure

Pros: It's clean, colorful, and really appealing to young readers; all instruction is written in kid-friendly language.

Cons: There isn't much room for kids to write reviews in their own words.

Bottom Line: This safe, simple social network lets kids share their reading success with friends, creating healthy competition and confidence. 

Read more here.

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed byCommon Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

LeVar Burton Kids Skybrary School

Kids can "go anywhere, be anything" with vast book and video library 

Pros: Access hundreds of videos and real books, all in one easy-to-use app on a single device.

Cons: There aren't many cons, but there could be more features that take advantage of the tablet medium.

Bottom Line: Wonderful and practical way to get kids excited about learning and reading -- the greatness of the classic TV series, updated for the 21st century.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

Like it or not, educators and parents of young schoolchildren know (or will soon find out) the rigorous literacy demands being placed on students today. A friend shared she was surprised by the reading level and number of books her six-year-old was supposed to be reading. She'd been reading bedtime stories to her daughter. What she didn't realize was that schools today expect young children to be reading their own stories with proficiency at such a young age.

The research

This is happening despite research that indicates we are pushing children to learn before they are developmentally ready. Doing this can have harmful consequences for children.

In their report Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose, education professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige and her colleagues write about the hazards of early reading instruction. They warn: “When children have educational experiences that are not geared to their developmental level or in tune with their learning needs and cultures, it can cause them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.

Unfortunately, if you’re a teacher or parent, even if you feel this way your job and/or child’s success depends on how they meet today’s expectations.

What not to do

One of the worst things a parent or teacher can do is to associate reading with anxiety and failure. One way to avoid this is to make reading fun with as many scaffolds as possible.

While for some families this may mean investing in expensive programs or tutors to help their child keep up, there is another way.

Finding high-quality early literacy apps.

Solution: Increase Screen time

If you’re lucky enough to be in a district that purchases and provides a platform such as Footsteps2Brilliance students will be more likely to meet today’s demands. Their research shows that in just one month students have measurable results in vocabulary acquisition, critical thinking, and comprehension. Outside research shows that students who used Footsteps2Brilliance gained 7 months of vocabulary acquisition on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test in just 1 month. That is almost an entire year’s worth of academic progress.

Unfortunately, you may not be in a district that uses advanced tools for advanced literacy. Fortunately, there is an app now available to any parent or teacher for students. The app can be downloaded even if their school or district has not invested in it. 

It’s called Rivet. It’s free! It also has no ads and it’s COPPA compliant. 

The app contains more than 2000 leveled books for students in grades K-2. The app has a kid-friendly interface with word help to decrease frustration level. It has a read along feature enabling the book to read aloud to children. It is personalized so kids can choose their favorite books, avatars, and skins. It also has authentic, real-world reflection. Readers can rate and review each story they read. They can also save favorite stories and play games based on the stories they enjoy the most.

Using an app like Rivet means increased screen time results in increased reading time. What does that look like for readers using Rivet?

• +20% more time reading
• 29 average minutes per day reading
• 4.2 nights per week read
• 5.3 books read per day

The Verdict

While click-bate headlines love to scare parents and educators about the risks of screen time, it’s not that simple. Intelligently directed screen time with adult guidance and support can be the very thing kids need for success.

What do you think? Are apps like Rivet or Footsteps2Brilliance something that could help the students with whom you work? Have you tried them? Have you had success with something else?      

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several books and her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal. 

LitPick

Tweens' reviews of YA literature great for classroom use 

Pros: The site's relaxed feel makes reviewing fun; students learn all kinds of skills at the same time.

Cons: Navigation can be tricky, and there's a limited number of books to choose from.

Bottom Line: LitPick is a safe, fun environment for YA lovers to read their favorite books while learning how to discuss literature. 

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Digital books are a powerful educational tool, providing students with the opportunity to improve their literacy and learn anytime, anywhere. Now eight million students from 17,000 districts and schools have the opportunity to access digital books through Sora, the new student reading app from OverDrive Education.

OverDrive Education and Sora support Texas' Proclamation 2019, which calls for instructional materials to promote English language arts curriculum adoptions for grades K-8 across the state for the 2019-2020 school year. Schools can choose from a balanced and diverse digital catalog of supplemental and student choice reading titles for use in the Sora app on any device or computer. More information found here.

Sessions at this week’s Texas Computer Education Association Convention & Exposition (TCEA) at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio (Booth #1239) will demonstrate how Sora and digital books contributed to the growth by serving the changing needs of students and educators (complete schedule here). OverDrive Education, digital reading platform for K-12, will also share best practices and highlights, such as the lists below.

The top five ebooks for K-12 students in 2018: 

1. Wonder, R. J. Palacio
2. The Maze Runner, James Dashner
3. Big Nate Makes a Splash, Lincoln Peirce
4.  Big Nate Makes the Grade, Lincoln Peirce
5. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas

The top five audiobooks for K-12 students in 2018:

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling
2. A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L'engle
3. The Lightning Thief, Lincoln Peirce
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling  

Visit TCEA Booth # 1239 from February 5-7 to hear educators share how they are using their digital reading platform and Sora to improve reading engagement and education:

• Choosing & Promoting a Digital Reading Service -– Tuesday at 5pm
• Sora Helps You Make the Most of Your Digital Library – Wednesday at 11am
• From Research to Funding to Engagement: The Life Cycle of Your Digital Library – Wednesday at 1pm
• Digital Reading Gets Students Ready for College – Wednesday at 3:45pm
• Sora is Your School's Secret to Reading Engagement – Thursday at 11am & 2pm

For more information about OverDrive’s service for schools, visit overdrive.com/schools and TCEA Booth #1239.

Epic! digital reading platform today announced that it is now reaching more than 10 million children and over 500 million books have been read on the platform since launch.  The company has set its sights on becoming a responsible digital media brand for kids. 

The subscription service costs $7.99 a month and provides unlimited access to more than 35,000 books, audio books and learning videos from 250 top publishers, including HarperCollins, Macmillan, Abrams, Sesame Workshop, National Geographic Kids and more.

Hundreds of thousands of teachers and librarians use Epic! weekly to support student learning across a wide variety of subjects, from reading and literacy to history, geography, the arts, science and math.

In addition to the ability to freely access the Epic! library, teachers have curated almost 2 million content collections on topics like ocean animals, coding and Native American history for students of all grade levels. Teachers have also created nearly 200,000 interactive quizzes on Epic! to gauge comprehension of reading material, which have been taken more than 35 million times by children in schools and homes.

The five-year-old company has seen consistently strong growth across the board, increasing reach and doubling its revenue every year. Kids have read more than 500 million books on Epic! since launch; 300 million last year alone. To support its growth, Epic! has secured more than $50 million in funding from Menlo Ventures, Reach Capital, Translink Capital, Rakuten Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and others. The most recent round of $30 million was led by Evolution Media, the global tech, media and entertainment investment company backed by TPG Growth and Creative Artists Agency.

Join us to learn how to plan and execute an instructional technology strategy that supports your digital learning needs. Whether you have 1:1 iPads, Chromebooks, BYOD or are still deciding on devices, Christie Boen, Instructional Technology Coach and District Librarian at Bend-La Pine School District, will help you create a content and technology plan for success in the classroom and library using ebooks and audiobooks. Discover how to prioritize goals and implement a strategy to meet the reading needs of your students and maintain critical efficiencies and measures for your educators. Watch the on-demand webinar here.

About the Speakers:

CHRISTIE BOEN - Christie Boen is the Instructional Technology Coach and District Librarian at Bend-La Pine School District in Oregon.

MELISSA HIGEY - Melissa is an account manager at OverDrive and enjoys working with school partners all over the northwestern US.

Dystopia 2153

Fun graphic novel makes coding enticing for more students

Pros: Combines block-based coding challenges with a good story.

Cons: Relatively new product with limited offerings or extensions.

Bottom Line: A promising way to integrate basic coding into the ELA classroom.

[Visual Programming Approach Opens App Design to More Learners]

Read more.

Site of the Week picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best edtech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

The promise of educational technology is that it allows every student to experience instruction tailored to his or her learning style and specific learning needs. Equity of access and the opportunity for deep personalization are founding principles of many 1:1 programs. Most educators believe that the integration of technology into the curriculum supports the learning of all students but especially those students who face additional challenges.

This is especially true for ELL students or students with dyslexia, which is the most common language-based learning disability. Although Sora, the new reading app from OverDrive Education, was created to excite all students about reading, it has specific benefits for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning challenges. Sora provides IEP support with audiobooks, dyslexic font, enlarged text, Read-Alongs and more.

In addition, all students can benefit from reading enhancements such as notes, highlights, and defined words that can be exported from the app. By making reading easier and more pleasurable, Sora allows students to take a journey in their imagination that broadens the necessary knowledge base to help them develop critical thinking, skill mastery, and citizenship.

Educators demo on how easy it is for students to discover their next great read.

Reimagining the Student Reading Experience

Sora was specifically designed as a K-12 digital tool to support individualized learning and to standardize the student’s reading experience across devices. Intuitive design and in-app help reduce questions for teachers and other school staff so that students can spend more time reading and learning.

Students are more engaged in their reading with interactions with achievements and avatars. With just one tap, they can borrow a book from the library and begin reading. Educators can restrict content based on grade level and group titles into class sets as well as include personalization formats like audiobooks and tools such as dyslexic font available through Sora to engage all readers, no matter their reading level, preference or pace. There are even resources for educators to help students discover their next great read.

Students will love:

• Easy onboarding—simply find your school and log in using school credentials.
• IEP support-audio books, dyslexic font, enlarged text, Read-Alongs.
• Unified experience across devices and operating systems.
• Simple, one-tap step to borrow and start reading.
• Reading enhancements including notes, highlights and defined words, all of which can be exported from the app.
• Automatic syncing of loans, holds, noted, highlights, defined words, activity and achievements across multiple devices.

Clicker here to find out more about the Sora reading app and open a world of reading to your students.

Triangle Interactive LLC today announced the launch of their first 1000 English and Spanish read-along eBooks, released in concert with Book Buddy Media and other licensing partners. More Triangle content will be released on a monthly basis.

[Students Can Work Together with Book Creator’s Collaboration Feature]

"The immediate goal is to expose young people to great fiction and nonfiction—but to do so in a format that allows them to flourish independently, by incorporating simple digital support tools that enhance the reading experience,” says Brett Hodus, President of Triangle Interactive.

Triangle eBooks are enhanced with embedded audio, synchronized to offer automatic page-turn functionality. All narrations are professionally performed by voice actors and each word is highlighted as the audio is read aloud. Triangle eBook provides a supported independent reading experience for the beginning or striving reader. The files can be opened on virtually any smart device.

Customers can place orders for Triangle Interactive content as of April 2, 2018 through OverDrive, Mackin, Apple, Google Play, Hoopla, eBooks2Go, and Kobo.

Help your K-12 students achieve higher reading and writing benchmarks with a program that best aligns to your instructional goals and objectives. Download this guide to evaluate literacy program features that matter most such as:

• Differentiated instruction with actionable data
• Blended learning strategies
• Embedded, ongoing assessment
• Support for high-stakes assessment
• Development of teacher efficiency

This step-by-step guide will help you choose the most practical digital literacy program for your district.

I've shared Robbie Samuels' ideas on 12 tips to effectively connect at education conferences. If you find those ideas helpful, then you might be interested in getting a free copy of Samuels' new book (for a limited time only) which shares ideas on how not to waste time at conferences and other events and start building meaningful relationships. You'll learn why it's important to stop thinking about what's in it for you and discover the better questions, takeaways, and goals to consider to for better results. Samuels also explains that simply collecting business cards is not developing relationships. He shares strategies for effective follow up. He also acknowledges extrovert privilege, explains how extroverts can use that to support others, and provides advice for introverts.

The book is called Croissants vs Bagels because it's an important concept he writes and talks about. He explains that those in tight networking circles at events are the “bagels.” If someone opens up their body language and makes space for others to join the circle--viola! “Croissant.” Set the intention to meet people and your body language will reflect your intention.

If you feel anxious about networking, this book shares practical steps to help you feel empowered. The book provides clear examples of how to approach and engage people who are different from you are provided, so they’ll want to keep the conversation going. Readers will receive techniques enabling you to be more strategic, more effective, and more inclusive.

You can get the free Kindle book on Amazon through July 31st.

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.

Digital natives in schools across the country are discovering the joys of curling up with a good ebook—and they’re reaping all the old-fashioned benefits of independent reading. As various digital ELA curricula transform the culture of reading in these schools, educators report not only improved reading skills and test scores but also increased engagement, comprehension, ownership, and critical thinking that spill over into student work in other subjects. Access to these digital tools and libraries is opening doors to the world and to the future.

THE SIMPLE MATH OF GROWING READING SCORES: 69% TO 90%

At West View Elementary School in North Hills (PA) School District in Pittsburgh, 69 percent of Shannon Diven’s sixth-grade students had achieved a passing score in reading on the state PSSA test in 2015.

Sixth-grade students at West View Elementary collaborate using StudySync. “We had been in the habit of teaching the same way: teaching an isolated objective by using a story from a basal reader/anthology,” Diven says. But “students needed to be taught to read, analyze, and be able to compare and contrast rigorous text.”

All K–12 teachers in the district have access to iPads and a host of technology tools for learning, and students in grades 6–8 are now 1:1 with iPads as part of the district-wide Project Connect program. These resources enabled Diven and her students to try a digital ELA program.

BALANCING THE EQUATION

“Our primary goal was to find a digital ELA program that met or exceeded our state ELA standards and was engaging to students,” says Dr. Jeffrey Taylor, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum, Assessment & Elementary Education. Two of the four elementary schools in the district have a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students and so, Taylor says, “it is sometimes challenging to provide a balanced digital curriculum to all four … schools in a consistent manner when some students have Internet access at home while others do not.”

The district found that balance in McGraw-Hill’s StudySync, and the results speak for themselves. Ninety percent of Diven’s students received a passing score in the state test in 2016. “Using StudySync taught us how to effectively teach our kids to critically analyze text,” Diven says, as well as to model key concepts and “address the deficits we knew existed.”

BEHIND THE NUMBERS: ENHANCED LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

While these scores are exciting, what they represent is more exciting still. “With students more actively engaged through classroom discussions, cooperative learning activities, and higher order thinking skills-based activities, there was a significant enhancement in the learning culture in the ELA classroom,” says Taylor. All of this “would have been more challenging,” he says, “without the digital resources.”

One of the challenges Diven found was shifting her “expectations of what the students were capable of doing with a new, more rigorous program.” And Taylor underscores the vital need for ongoing PD. “We have found that using a combination of before-school professional development sessions, Saturday professional development sessions, and using our K–6 literacy coaches to support the teachers in the new digital ELA curriculum has been very beneficial.” Hosting evening meetings to provide professional development for parents has also been key to their success, Taylor says.

TOOLS THEY USE
NORTH HILLS

► Apple TVs
► NEC, Casio, and ViewSonic projectors
► ELMO document cameras
► ENO and SMART interactive whiteboards
► HP and Dell desktops and laptops
► iMacs, iPads, and Macbooks
► StudySync

OPEN BOOKS OPEN DOORS
HOOKED ON EBOOKS

Clay Hill Elementary students enjoy a Skype-in author visit with James Ponti. When Principal Tracey Kendrick arrived at Clay Hill Elementary School, a small school across from a cow field on the edge of the large Clay County (FL) School District, she was dismayed to find a deep level of disengagement among students. With Title I money and a passion to open doors—to learning and to the world—for these students, 70 percent of whom receive free or reduced lunch, Kendrick and her team implemented a 1:1 iPad program for third through sixth grades, invested significant time in training teachers, and purchased lots of ebooks. This tiny school soon had the largest ebook collection in the district—a thousand books, organized using Follett’s Destiny Quest system—and they began to fly off the virtual shelves.

Kendrick laughs when she talks about waiting lists for books and students logging out new books before staff could advertise that they’d arrived. And she describes with delight the many creative ways she and her staff found to celebrate students meeting, and exceeding, reading goals. The celebrations continued as, over a three-year period, independent reading increased and they saw improvements in assessment scores as well as huge gains in every area from writing and grammar to attendance and behavior. Lessons in coding, digital citizenship, college and career readiness, and many other subjects were all part of this whole-school initiative—as was outfitting the library with “Silicon Valley furniture” to facilitate collaboration. “What the data shows,” Kendrick says, “is a culture shift that took place as students took ownership of their learning.”

Reading specialist Tammy Taylor points out the critical importance of focusing on student outcomes and building a community of readers. Students enjoy using Destiny Quest to track what they’ve read and want to read, as well as to write reviews and recommend books—to peers and to their teachers. “They enjoy the social aspects as well,” she says. And it’s these rich conversations and connections—between students and between students and teachers—that yield some of the greatest and deepest successes.

TALES OF TRANSFORMATION

Clay Hill Elementary students engaged in reading ebooks. Kendrick recalls meeting one young man in third grade who couldn’t read the word “the.” He couldn’t sit still, was in trouble all the time, and was projected to achieve the lowest level in the state standard assessments. Kendrick tracked his progress through this digital initiative to sixth grade, by which time he was “on grade level, participating in after-school drama activities, even writing his own books—a happy, well-adjusted student who was a pleasure to be around.”

Taylor tells the story of another student, a “frequent visitor” to the office for inappropriate behavior. After Kendrick delivered the ultimatum—that he had to meet certain expectations in order to keep his iPad or “do things the old-fashioned way,” he was never in trouble again. He is proficient and on grade level now too.

Often students can’t control many circumstances in their lives, but “They can have control over the path they’re going to take—their choices and actions, setting goals, making a plan to achieve those goals,” Taylor says. “The iPad is just a tool to help them get there.”

DISENGAGEMENT KNOWS NO SOCIOECONOMIC BOUNDARIES

Both Kendrick and Taylor took positions at Oak Leaf Elementary this year, a large school in an affluent neighborhood district. And Kendrick was surprised to find the same disengagement among these students as she had found when she arrived at Clay Hill Elementary. The success at Clay Hill has given Oak Leaf teachers the confidence to try similar initiatives, and Kendrick is pleased to see some of those shifts taking place already. It takes time, she emphasizes, to build trust and articulate goals and vision for these kinds of programs.

READ WITH ME!

Kendrick points to two books on her desk right now, recommended to her by students—Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures and Seagulls Don’t Eat Pickles. The students are anxious for their principal to read them so that they can discuss the books with her over lunch.

“It’s so powerful, Taylor says, “to develop a personal connection with adults to talk about books.” The benefits of reading to, and with, students go far deeper than improved test scores—it’s one of the best gifts we can give all the kids in our lives.

TOOLS THEY USE
CLAY HILL

► Apple TVs
► Da Vinci 3D printers
► iBots
► iPads

A SCHOOL FALLEN BETWEEN THE CRACKS SEES NEW GROWTH

 Audrey Mullen and Kite Review assist BrainPop and AllCanCode through a group feedback session. Elise L. Wolff Elementary in Henderson, Nevada, is part of Clark County School District, one of the largest districts in the U.S. Technology funding across the district varies widely and depends on administrative preferences and the ability of schools to find supplemental resources. Wolff Elementary, says fifth-grade teacher Lloyd Goldberg, “falls into the cracks where we do not get additional Title 1 funding to put towards technology.” As a result, he says, “we are a mix of technology and old school.” Each classroom has one or two desktops and three Chromebooks, and money from grants and fundraising has been used to purchase more devices. 

When evaluating digital resources, therefore, Goldberg needs to ensure that the investment is going to bring a good return. The questions he asks include the following:

■ Is the program or resource truly Common Core-aligned?
■ Does it go into depth for the standards?
■ Does it differentiate the instruction and resources to meet the needs of the diverse learners in the classroom?
■ Does it value process-based instruction and comprehension, or is it simply driven by end results, focusing on final answers instead of the “how” of the problems?

Accelerated Reader (AR) and STAR Reading are two programs from Renaissance that meet Goldberg’s high standards.

METACOGNITION AND OWNERSHIP

Through using these programs, Goldberg says, “I have seen a real growth in the metacognition of the students and an ownership of their reading. … Since fully engaging in AR, the school reading has grown exponentially in both volume and comprehension.” With easy reporting and the “simple leveling of ZPDs through the STAR tests, the kids have a full awareness of their achievements and limitations and can then work more efficiently and effectively within them to grow.”

But this invigorated growth is not limited to reading. Just as importantly, students who have this understanding of where they are and how to set accurate goals for improvement not only show similar growth in writing and language, but they are also “able to transfer those comprehension and writing skills over to the math performance tasks as well as to research in science and social studies,” Goldberg says.

INCENTIVES TO SUCCEED

In addition, Goldberg has found that the program is “really hitting and supporting the highest-achieving students” so that these students, who are “typically left alone due to their ability level … can easily track their progress and have continued incentives to succeed.” Goldberg has one student who has passed over 120 AR tests already this year and several others who are close to that level. “The kids who already read a lot are now being rewarded for their work ethic,” he says.

The students are clearly running with it, and on the implementation side Goldberg advises districts to build as much time as possible into the scheduled transition to a new curriculum. Teachers need time to receive training, gather materials, and refine instruction so that the program fits their personalities and classes. Students need time to understand procedures and expectations. And parents need time to understand the goals and how the program is aiding instruction. At Wolff Elementary, that time has proved to be a wise investment in the future of their students.

TOOLS THEY USE
WOLFF ELEMENTARY

► Accelerated Reader and STAR Reading
► Chromebooks
► Desktops
► iPads
► Kindles

HIGH SCORES GO HIGHER

Students at Springfield Elementary School using Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready for reading assessment and instruction. With its tradition of high achievement and rigorous performance standards, Springfield Elementary, in the Springfield (OH) Local School District, was looking for an Internet-based instructional and diagnostic program to help all students achieve their full potential in both math and reading. Specifically, Superintendent Tom Yazvac says, their goals included continuing to improve scores on the Ohio Achievement Test, reinforcing content standards, and boosting teacher effectiveness. They wanted a tool that would compare data, show student progress, and provide recommendations.

After implementing i-Ready, Yazvac and his staff saw improved performance almost immediately. In math, the percentage of students scoring at or above grade level more than doubled for most grades. In reading, the increase in average test scores from test 1 to test 2 was statistically significant, and after six months the national percentile rank for fourth-grade students increased by 20 percent. In addition, they found that student performance on the i-Ready Diagnostic was linked to student performance on the Ohio Achievement Test. Now in year five of their implementation, the school continues to see strong results.

But it’s not all about the numbers. The tool frees teachers up to work more closely with individual students, and for these digital-native students, Yazvac says, “i-Ready makes learning particularly fun.”

ALL REPORTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

Springfield Elementary’s library media specialist, Kristen Snyder, says i-Ready reports are an essential part of their success. The reports “go into great detail, not only saying what a child needs improvement in, but providing suggestions for teachers and parents on how to help,” she says.

These user-friendly reports make data collection and instructional planning easy. “I love the extra lessons you can put on if students are having difficulty on a particular skill,” says Snyder.

“LESS OF A LEARNING CURVE MOVING FROM ASSESSMENT TO INSTRUCTION”

And, because the assessments and instruction are in one system, there’s consistency between tests and lessons. “When students see similarities like this, there’s less of a learning curve moving from assessment to instruction,” says Yazvac. This feature, Snyder says, makes i-Ready “easy and user-friendly.”

Because i-Ready is so easy to use and because it increases student engagement, generates helpful and comprehensive reports, offers clear connections to standards, and brings results, Yazvac and his team highly recommend i-Ready to other districts.

TOOLS THEY USE
SPRINGFIELD ELEMENTARY

► Amazon Kindle
► Apple FaceTime
► AppleTV
► BrainPOP
► Chromebooks
► Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready
► Discovery Education
► Document Camera (ELMO)
► Google Classroom
► iPad
► Pro HD Camcorder for broadcasting
► Reflector for Airplay through PCs
► Schoology
► Skype
► Smart TapIt
► TurningPoint Student Response System
► YouTube for Education

HELPING STUDENTS CHECK OUT EBOOKS

As the North East (TX) Independent School District (NEISD) discovered, availability is one thing and usage is another. While the district’s instructional improvement plan, which began in the 2013–14 school year, made many ebooks and digital audiobooks available to its 68,000 students, students were not taking full advantage of these resources.

When Library Services determined that many ebooks and audiobooks were available, yet students were not taking advantage of these resources, a goal was added to the District Instructional Improvement Plan for school year 2014-15 to increase the usage.

“Online collections allow us to provide far more options,” says Faye Hagerty, Director of Library Services, but the district needed a targeted, purposeful effort to help students make use of more of the content available to them.

NARROWING THE SEARCH AND LESSONS IN EREADING

NEISD uses OverDrive for one of its online collections, through which audiobooks and ebooks are available to students on any device, anytime, anywhere. Book collections are curated based on school level (e.g., elementary, middle, or high school), themes, subject matter, interests, and so on to narrow the search for students who are browsing for something to read. Students can access these digital resources with any Web browser or with an app so they can download texts to read offline as well.

Hagerty notes that students use these books primarily for pleasure reading fiction and that staff enjoy using the resources as well—for example, for listening to audiobooks while driving.

But finding the books they want to read isn’t the only challenge. Even digital natives need guidance for reading digital resources. “Students must be trained on how to access ebooks and use digital annotation tools,” says Hagerty. “Educators need to directly teach digital reading strategies the same way they need to teach print reading strategies.” Librarians in the district lead training sessions several times a year on reading in this unique format.

Hagerty appreciates being able to monitor hold and checkout statistics with OverDrive, as well as its administrative functions, flexible ordering model, and customer service.

A LITTLE FRIENDLY COMPETITION NEISD

librarians often offer incentive programs to increase OverDrive usage, especially during vacation time. Posters in libraries and around the schools encourage students to read—in print and digitally.

Every month, Hagerty recognizes the ten schools in the district with the greatest OverDrive circulation by emailing commendations to the principals and librarians. “Principals like a little friendly competition, so this keeps them invested in searching for ways to keep their students reading,” she says.

“Our goal in the 2013-14 school year, our first year, was to have 100 percent increase in usage of our OverDrive digital collection from the previous year, and we actually increased usage by 200 percent in one year,” says Hagerty. “Our usage has steadily increased every year since.”

A GROWING DISTRICT GROWING READERS
FIRM FOUNDATIONS

Manor ISD elementary robotics competition. A few short months ago, in August 2016, Manor ISD outside Austin, Texas, adopted digital libraries—and they’ve already seen a significant number of students move from “critical” to approaching grade-level standards in reading. How do they know? “You have to have built-in progress monitoring for any tech initiative,” says new Superintendent Dr. Royce Avery, and tracking utilization rates and growth is critical. Weekly reports are showing improvement across the board. “There’s more work to be done,” Avery says, “but the gains are there.”

Like many districts, Manor ISD faces challenges—a diverse student body across a hundred-mile radius, a high percentage of economically challenged families, increasing numbers of ELLs. But Avery is unwaveringly optimistic when explaining what is perhaps their biggest challenge. In the past five years, the student population has grown from 2,000 to nearly 9,000. And as families continue to seek affordable housing outside Austin, Manor is preparing to serve double that number—18,000 students—in the next four to five years.

The district is in the midst of building new schools, sourcing “the latest and greatest” in fiber optics, opening three new Pre-K centers for full-day programs to ensure crucial early intervention, and enhancing existing campuses with furniture and other resources to create attractive, collaborative, and innovative learning environments. But as ground is broken and foundations are poured, the focus remains on the most groundbreaking work of all—equipping students with foundational skills for success. And literacy is the cornerstone.

SKILL-BUILDING TOOLS

Pioneer Crossing Elementary students creating their morning news broadcast. MacBooks and iPads abound on the 13 campuses of this “Apple-enthusiastic district,” and Manor high schools are 1:1. Classrooms are equipped with Extron systems and Epson projectors; tools such as Doceri and IPEVO bring interactive elements to the classroom, and teachers are using programs including MyOn, MindPlay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC), and Think Through Math to evaluate and remediate skills.

MyOn and MVRC, Avery explains, “are focused on developing literacy skills based in different approaches.” MyOn provides ebooks that “pique student interest in a particular topic or area.” These high-interest texts (there is also a Spanish version) help to foster the habits and culture of reading “all the time.” MVRC, on the other hand, after an initial diagnostic check, “prescribes a developmental literacy pathway through a virtual coaching model” to fill any voids. Tools like Wixie reinforce literacy as students participate in digital storytelling.

Manor also enlists its community partners, such as technology companies Applied Materials and Samsung, who provide a range of support, from financial contributions to mentors and reading partners, in efforts to encourage students to see that reading is fun. Competitions with rewards such as visits to the workplace and books provide incentives that are also rich learning opportunities.

SHIFTING PRIORITIES

One key to success with targeted reading programs like MVRC, Avery says, “is to ensure students get access to the program for the right amount of time.” And this “requires shifting priorities on campuses.” Students at Manor “in critical need of reading support get 30 minutes of time, four days a week and have shown strong gains.” Because the chances for academic success drop significantly for students who are behind in reading, Avery says, “it is imperative that we intervene—and that might require changing schedules of classes and students or shifting technology resources around.”

All of this, Avery emphasizes, requires “having lots of conversations with teachers about the benefits and offering as much support as possible.” Four instructional technology specialists at Manor work with educators on successfully integrating technology in their classrooms.

Erik Hauck, for example, integrates technology daily through blended learning in his second-grade classroom at Pioneer Crossing Elementary. “Students use iPads and various apps to complete projects that involve lots of reading,” Avery says, in addition to time using MVRC. His efforts have resulted in all his students moving from ‘critical’ to approaching grade-level standards over the course of one semester.

TOOLS THEY USE
MANOR ISD

► Adobe Creative Suite
► ClassDojo
► Desmos
► Doceri
► Duolingo
► Echo (LMS)
► Edgenuity
► EDpuzzle
► Eduphoria!
► Follett
► GarageBand
► Google Apps
► iMovie
► IPEVO
► Istation
► Jamf Pro
► Khan Academy
► Learning.com
► LEGO Movie Maker
► Microsoft Office Suite
► MindPlay Virtual Reading Coach
► MyOn
► Nearpod
► Nepris
► NoRedInk
► Notability
► Puppet Pals
► Quizizz
► SketchUp
► Seesaw
► Socrative
► Think Through Math
► Tickle
► Toontastic
► Veescope
► Wixie

THE 21ST-CENTURY LIBRARIAN: INSTRUCTOR AND COLLABORATOR
NATURAL AND FLEXIBLE

Fourth-grade Dodson Elementary School (MNPS)students utilizing BlendSpace. The redesigned library spaces at Metro Nashville (TN) Public Schools (MNPS) look different—with new furniture, technology, and colors. “Everything is on wheels, we have bright and vibrant spaces, lots of glass, and even garage doors,” says Stephanie Ham, director of library services. But these physical changes reflect a deeper shift in thinking about the use of the library and the librarian’s role. The operational part of the librarian’s job, Ham explains, is minor. Instead, “the focus is on instruction and collaboration.”

Flexibility is key—to accommodate different class sizes, settings, and goals as well as “to be able to grow and change with the education needs of today and tomorrow,” Ham says. So the technology needs to be as flexible as the spaces themselves. While each MNPS library has four wired computers for simple catalog-checking or printing tasks, the rest of the devices are mobile.

Primarily a PC district, MNPS also has iPads and MacBooks in the libraries. “We want to provide technology across various platforms so students aren’t used to just one type of technology,” Ham says. They’re also an Office 365 district, and Ham notes that they’re seeing an increase in both students and teachers using their cloud-based services. “The ultimate goal for MNPS is that the use of technology in instruction is just a natural component of everyday learning for our students,” Ham says.

POWERFUL RESEARCH TOOLS

After setting their instructional goals, MNPS librarians and teachers work together to research and find resources and programs that fit those needs. Some of the district’s go-to tools include Capstone PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next, which Ham describes as “pretty remarkable. It is a great initial database for students to get accustomed to using research databases. The librarians embed the usage of it in research projects and students enjoy the interactive features.” ProQuest CultureGrams and SIRS are tried-and-true research tools and “a first stop for many librarians as well.” With LibGuides, librarians can put together high-quality resources for teachers, Ham says, “even if they aren’t in the room assisting.” MackinVIA is the district’s ebook platform. “We find most of the schools use the collection for research support versus fiction reading,” Ham says, “which supports most of the research on student ebook usage.”

START SMALL

When contemplating these kinds of innovations, Ham cautions that the biggest challenge can be that “librarians and teachers hear or see these great things and just shut down because they don’t think they can implement them on a large scale.” But it’s important “to start small and build from there.” Ham says, “We talk a lot about the SAMR model, and sometimes it is OK to start with substitution—you have to start somewhere.” And the result, Ham says, is that “when we implement something in true fidelity we see engaged students.”

TOOLS THEY USE
MNPS, DISTRICT-WIDE

► ABC-CLIO Databases
► Blackboard
► BlendSpace
► iPads
► LibGuides
► MacBooks
► MackinVIA
► Office 365
► PCs
► PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next
► ProQuest CultureGrams and SIRS
► Rosen Teen Health & Wellness

Blended learning can be complicated by the anxiety of moving to digital curriculum and unfamiliarity with new tools, but the results are making the difference in many districts. View this ebook on top teacher strategies to get started with blended learning—including how to overcome initial concerns, choose the best model for their particular context and effectively integrate digital content into their instruction.

Brought to you by:

Success Stories in Education Mobility

Whether your focus is on one-to-one or personalized learning, more and more schools within K-12 and Higher Education are moving towards mobile computing devices to enhance the student learning experience. This e-book takes a look at how 5 different schools in North America are using mobile devices to help students become active participants in the learning process.

Brought to you by:Powered by Intel

According to a 2016 survey by OverDrive and ASCD, educators agree that ebooks and audiobooks have the advantage over print materials when it comes to delivering individualized instruction. Students can absorb content at their own pace and explore learning online or offline with familiar devices like Chromebooks or tablets. For younger students, ebooks offer a gateway into technology. OverDrive Education offers over two million titles, and their ebooks come equipped with features such as an exportable note-taking and highlighting tool, and a built-in dictionary.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A LINK TO THE STUDY GO TO
http://www.techlearning.com/blogentry/11160

Here is a selection of articles I've written about ebooks on the ICT & Computing in Education website and the Write! website.

Ebooks: no need for publishers to worry?

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

If you have an iOS device or work with students who have iPads in their hands, you’ll want to check out this list of totally free classic books! There’s no catch – classic books are part of the public domain and you can download them for free on your iPad or iPhone. The iBookstore is full of classics including plenty of my favorites. I’ve compiled a list of 19 classic books that are totally free and ready to download.

Free Classic eBooks!

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

White Fang by Jack London

The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Anna Karenina by��Leo Tolstoy

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Don Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Do you like reading on iPads?

Reading on an iPad is a very different experience than turning the page or scribbling in a margin. It took me awhile to get comfortable reading on a digital device, and I still switch back and forth from paperback to tablet. One reason I love reading iBooks on an iPad is how easy it is to highlight, color code and take notes as you move through a chapter. All of your notes are organized and can easily be shared with another person or saved for your own review. This is especially helpful if students are preparing for a book club meeting or literature circle.

Do you have a favorite and free classic book I left off the list? Share the title and/or the link to the iBookstore in the comments section below!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Why An Enterprise LMS Is the Key To Successful K-12 Digital Transformation

Why do some education technology implementations succeed while others fail?

Effective change management is critical to the success of any digital transformation project in K–12. Read our new eBook “Why an Enterprise LMS is the Key” and learn what that looks like from three leading district Technology Leaders. After reading this important eBook you will understand:

* The Principles of the ADKAR Change Management Methodology
* How to Consolidate Disparate Technology and Increase User Adoption
* How Effective Change Can Pay Dividends
* How an Enterprise LMS Can be the Foundation for These Efforts

In addition, you can see and hear from technology experts with embedded videos of case studies and first hand accounts from K-12 technology experts.

Download Now!

Brought to you by:

Redefining Learning: The 4 Pillars of Tech-enabled Learning

School districts are developing policies to capitalize on the new abundance of devices and ensure that students use them to learn deeply and prepare for the future. The goal is to redefine learning in order for students to achieve more – not just higher scores but also 21st century skills and knowledge. What districts decide in terms of devices, tools, content, professional development, and management have long-range effects on student learning.

This eBook provides a guide to practices that help districts redefine learning with help from Microsoft, CDWG and Lightspeed Systems. The keys to success are the 4 pillars of technology-enabled learning: Devices, Tools, Professional Development, and IT Solutions.

For the past few years, my students have written nonfiction picture books for younger audiences around the world. Last year, I decided to share the lesson plan to serve as inspiration for those who wanted it, and this year I thought I would do the same. While the foundation is the same, the process has been tweaked a bit for a more meaningful experience for the students.

The goal of the project is rather simple; create a 15 to 25 slide/page nonfiction picture book meant for a 2nd or 3rd grade audience on anything you wish to write about. Throughout this project we have been able to successfully marry tech tools with writing, as well as use Skype, Padlet, Twitter and other interactive tools.

• How to take organized notes in a way that works for them.
• How to write a paragraph and all of the myriads of lessons that are attached to that.
• Grammar! Spelling! Punctuation!
• How to find legal images.
• How to cite sources, including images, books, and websites.
• How to uncover reliable sources (yes, there is a place for Wikipedia in our research).
• How to search the internet better.
• How to conduct market research using Skype to ask 2nd or 3rd graders what they want to read and how they want to read it.
• How to rewrite information in our own words.
• How to do design and layout on a page to make it inviting.
• How to create good questions.
• Exploring our own interests.
• How to write assessment rubrics.
• How to work as a peer mentor group.
• How to monitor self-engagement.

Read more.

cross-posted at pernillesripp.com.

Pernille Ripp is the creator of Global Read Aloud Project, co-founder of EdCamp MadWI and the author of Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners and Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to OurStudents, She teaches seventh grade in Verona, Wisconsin, and blogs at http://pernillesripp.com. Follow her on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

In the past few years, Chromebooks have taken the education world by storm because of their affordability, ease of use, and compatibility with cloud-based blended learning. In this new eBook you will learn about several districts that have achieved great results by moving towards 1:1 implementations with Intel-based models. Check out their stories and their tips for learning in the cloud with Chromebooks.

Included in the eBook:

• Why Chromebooks?
• Personalizing Learning in Oakland, CA
• Collaboration Moves Everyone Forward in Wheeling, IL
• Equity With Chromebooks in Oak Grove, CA
• 10 Tips for Administrators

Access the eBook Now

Using Wi-Fi to Drive Instruction and Learning for Greater Student Achievement

Educators want more support of digital learning in the classroom. IT departments are also faced with demands for higher-quality user experiences that mirror the experiences students have with their own personal mobile devices. New standards, availability of digital tools and the need for increased bandwidth require larger, stronger networks.

In this eBook, find out how a wireless infrastructure can help meet all the needs that districts face – including supporting instruction and learning to increase student achievement.

Technology has changed in the K-12 classroom. Today, educators face the challenges of learning how to use and then incorporating student mobile devices into their teaching -- all while ensuring this new technology is not a distraction to the classroom environment.

To help ease this burden, take a look at this free eBook and discover how to seamlessly manage digital classrooms and create an optimal learning environment for improved student outcomes.

SPONSORED BY:

Districts are adopting educational goals to empower students to learn deeply so they are ready for higher education and lifelong learning; to prepare them for the workplace and its culture of change and reinvention; and to take advantage of the technologies that define achievement and success in the world. What they decide in terms of devices, tools, content, professional development, and safety and security have long-range effects on student learning.

This eBook provides a guide to policies and practices that drive deeper learning by providing information on Windows devices that enable anytime anywhere learning; Microsoft tools to tap the potential of devices and learners; professional development that inspires and empowers educators, and management to make the learning environment safe and secure.

he FCC recently approved the first changes to the E-Rate program since it began in 1996. Ensure your district is up to speed on new eligibility rules and discount calculations by downloading this E-Rate 2.0 Survival Guide: Education-Grade Wi-Fi for 21st Century Learning. The goal of the changes is to close the Wi-Fi gap and to support personalized learning for every K through 12 student no matter where they go to school across the country — rural, urban or anywhere in between. 21st Century schools need robust networks with high-density broadband capacity. The E-Rate program helps U.S. schools build out that capacity.

>

As districts fully implement the Common Core standards and adopt more digital learning tools, the load on school networks will increase along with the number of devices used to access it. A robust, fast and reliable Wi-Fi network is mission critical to providing equivalent learning and testing situations for all students. IT departments need to know how the network traffic looks at any point in time and be able to proactively plan which programs get priority and react quickly when things go wrong. This eBook details how to build the right kind of supporting infrastructure as well as how to empower teachers and students to leverage the latest technology for richer learning experiences.

Offering an affordable, instant-on solution with long battery life and easy management tools, Chromebooks are rapidly gaining popularity in today's schools. Read how -- and why -- five districts have tapped into the power of these cloud-based devices as teaching tools.

I'm a huge fan and user of Evernote, and lots of people ask me for tips on using it, so I'm starting a series of blog posts on Evernote Tips and Tricks to share some great tips and ideas for using Evernote.

Tip #11 - merge notes, create table of contents, notebook stacks

Evernote's layout of notebooks and notes is great for organizing, but there are some more great features too.

1. Merge Notes - Simply select the notes you want to merge together (hold CTRL or SHIFT as you select each one) and then click "Merge". This merge's the notes together into one note with the first note you select as the top note. Each note title is shaded providing a sort of page break between each note. This is a great way to consolidate multiple notes into one - very useful when you are adding/creating notes from different sources into Evernote or for cleaning up completed projects.

Please note: If you make a mistake merging notes or would like to retain the original notes, restore each individual note from your trash.

2. Create a Table of Contents - This creates a note with a list of all of the notes you selected (hold CTRL or SHIFT to select notes) with the title of each note being a hyperlink to the actual note. This is great for project management so you have a list of all projects/tasks on one note, as a unit plan with a list to each lesson plan and resource, or for writing with a list of each chapter.

3. Create Notebook Stacks - you can organize a bunch of notebooks into a "stack" where they are all organized. For example, I have a notebook stack for my consulting projects which has different notebooks underneath including clients, project files, resources and more.

In Evernote for Windows and Mac, select the notebooks from the left side menu, drag and drop one notebook into another notebook and it will create a new stack containing both notebooks. You can add more notebooks by simply dragging them into the stack.

Evernote for iOS

1. Navigate to your notebook list view.

2. Tap Edit in the upper right screen.

3. Select the information icon (“i”) next to the notebook you would like to move to your stack.

4. Tap Stack.

Evernote for Android

Adding notebooks to a stack with Android is a one-step process!

1. Press and hold a notebook and select ‘Move to stack’ or ‘Move to new stack’

More great features from Evernote that allow you to be more organized and efficient.

Related:

Evernote for Education Resources (includes more tips)

Great Tips, Resources and Ideas for Going Paperless

Get Organized - tips and resources for students, teachers, admin and more

--

David Andrade is a Educator, Educational Technology Specialist and Education Administrator in CT. Before teaching, David was an Aerospace Engineer for 10 years.He is the author of theEducational Technology Guy blog, where he reviews free educational technology resources for teachers, discusses ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning, and discusses other issues in education. He is also a professional development trainer, educational technology consultant and presenter at conferences.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of his employer.

Check out his blog at

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/ for more resources, tips, links, information and more.

LightSail Education recently surveyed 475 educators on the use of ebooks and their predictions for the future market. The overall findings show a strong interest in shifting from brick and mortar libraries to digital libraries, implementing an ebook purchase model as opposed to rental/subscription models. 86% of those surveyed have admitted to researching one or more specific digital tools.

Key findings of the report:

■ K-12 leadership predicts massive growth of ebook use in schools

■ There is an overwhelming preference for The Library Purchase Model of ebooks

■ Educators displayed a preference for shifting to digital texts for reading

■ K-12 leadership is actively seeking digital tools to assist with literacy instruction

■ 90% of those surveyed currently utilize ebooks for independent reading in the classroom.

You can view the full report http://lightsailed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LightSail-Report_State-of-the-eBook-Market_January2015.pdf

1:1 and BYOD are making a difference for student learning and assessment. Making sure that each student has a device is a powerful solution to promote student engagement and increased achievement. Yet providing all those devices is an awesome prospect. When schools can't afford all the equipment that entails, BYOD is a great solution. Student devices range from smartphones to tablets to laptops. Add school-owned notebooks and legacy computers into the mix and you can cover all the bases. With so many different devices in K-12 classrooms, how can schools manage them all, especially when they mix school-based equipment and student-owned devices? Districts need a mobile device management solution. Whether you're just starting to plan your device and management options or are trying to get a handle on the equipment already in place, this Quick Guide to mobility management will help you get it together.

Keb and Cala Explore Sugar, What Is It And Why Is It So Sweet? is an engaging eBook designed for iPads that will bring healthy eating to life for children. It follows the adventures of Keb and Cala as they explore sugar in different foods. The whimsical animations and characters will grab your students’ attention as they learn about making healthy food choices.

Teachers can log in to Keb and Cala Explore Sugar‘s companion website to access a fully automated lesson and activity sheets that extend the concepts that are introduced in this book. There is a Sugar Health Challenge to help teachers guide students through behavior change and think about their community. Within the text children will find educational games, interactive quizzes and tons of healthy eating tips. You’ll love how this eBook includes audio support for reading aloud in addition to animations and pop-ups.

Check out Keb and Cala Explore Sugar on iTunes or visit their website to learn more!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.